"I
offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has opened my eyes,
blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge."

It is
customary with this verse to offer obeisances to the spiritual master who
enlightens his disciples in the matter of transcendental knowledge. The Vedic
process does not involve research work. In mundane scholarship, we have to show
our academic learning by some research, but the Vedic process is different. In
the Vedic process the research work is already done; it is complete, and it is
simply handed down by disciplic succession from teacher to student. There is no
question of research work because the instruments and the means with which one
conducts such research work are blunt and imperfect.

At this
stage of our material existence, we are conditioned by many laws of nature. All
conditioned souls are subject to four defects due to the imperfection of their
senses. One defect is that the conditioned soul is certain to commit mistakes.
There is no man who does not commit mistakes. In India, for instance, Mahatma
Gandhi was supposed to be a very great personality, but he also committed
mistakes. Five minutes before he came to the meeting at which he was killed, he
was warned by confidential associates not to go, but he persisted. To commit
mistakes is very natural in the conditioned state of life. Indeed, the popular
saying has arisen: "To err is human."

Another
imperfection of the conditioned soul is that he is sure to be illusioned. Being
illusioned means accepting something which is not, phantasmagoria to be factual.
Every one of us is under the impression that we are these bodies, but actually
we are not. Accepting the body to be the self is called illusion, or maya. The
third imperfection is that conditioned souls have a tendency to cheat. We have
often heard a storekeeper say, "Because you are my friend, I won`t make any
profit off you." But in actuality we know that he is making at least 50%
profit. There are so many instances of this cheating propensity. There are also
many examples of teachers who actually know nothing but put forth theories in
words like "perhaps" or "it may be," while in actuality they
are simply cheating their students. The fourth imperfection is that the senses
of the living entity are not perfect. Our vision is so limited that we cannot
see very far away nor very near. The eye can see only under certain conditions,
and therefore it is understood that our vision is limited. Similarly, all our
other senses are also limited. It is not possible to understand the unlimited by
these imperfect, limited senses. The conclusion is that the Vedic process does
not encourage us to endeavor to learn the Absolute Truth by employing our
present senses, which are conditioned in so many ways. If we are to have
knowledge, it must come from a superior source which is not conditioned by these
four imperfections. That source is Krsna. He is the supreme authority of
Bhagavad-gita, and He is accepted as the perfect authority by so many saints and
sages.

Those
who are serious students of Vedic literature accept authority. Bhagavad-gita,
for example, is not a scholarly presentation which arose out of so much research
work. It is perfect knowledge that was taught by Lord Krsna to Arjuna on the
battlefield of Kuruksetra, and we receive information from it that in previous
ages Sri Krsna also taught it to the sun-god Vivasvan, and it was handed down
from time immemorial from Vivasvan by disciplic succession.

"The
Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god
Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in
turn instructed it to Iksvaku." (Bg. 4.1)

If we
study Bhagavad-gita according to academic knowledge or according to our own
mental speculation, we are certain to commit mistakes. It is not possible to
understand Bhagavad-gita in this way. It is necessary to follow carefully in the
footsteps of Arjuna. In previous ages, due to interpretation and mental
speculation, the real purport of Bhagavad-gita was lost; therefore Krsna
re-established the teachings by giving them to Arjuna.

"This
supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and
the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the
succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by
Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore, you can
understand the transcendental mystery of this science." (Bg. 4.2,3)

Thus
whoever follows in the footsteps of Arjuna, approaching Krsna in a spirit of
devotion, can understand the purpose of Bhagavad-gita as well as all other Vedic
literatures.

There
are four Vedas--Sama, Rg, Yajur and Atharva, and there are 108 Upanisads,
including the Isopanisad, Katha Upanisad and Taittiriya Upanisad, as well as the
Vedanta-sutra, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. These literatures are not
meant for any particular class of men but for the totality of human society. All
societies can take advantage of Vedic knowledge to perfect human life. As
pointed out before, human life is not meant for sense gratification, but for
understanding God, the universe and our own identity.

From
Vedic literatures we can understand that this material world is only a partial
manifestation of the complete creation of God. The larger portion of God`s
creation is found in the spiritual world of the Vaikunthas. Above and beyond
this material nature there is a superior spiritual nature, as Sri Krsna states
in Bhagavad-gita:

"Earth,
water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego--altogether these
eight comprise My separated material energies. Besides this inferior nature, O
mighty Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine which is all living entities
who are struggling with material nature and sustaining the universe." (Bg.
7.4,5)

There
are many material universes clustered together, and all these universes
constitute the material creation. Beyond these clusters of countless material
universes is the spiritual sky, which is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gita.

"There
is another, eternal nature, which is transcendental to this manifested and
non-manifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this
world is annihilated, that part remains as it is. That supreme status is called
unmanifested and infallible, and is the highest destination. Going there, one
never returns from that, My supreme abode." (Bg. 8.20,21)

The
Vedic religion, or varnasrama-dharma, is also called eternal because no one can
trace out its beginning. The Christian religion has a history of 2,000 years,
and the Mohammedan religion has a history of 1,300 years, but if we try to trace
out the origins of Vedic religion, we will not be able to find a beginning.
Varnasrama-dharma is accepted as the eternal religion of the living entity.

We
often say that God created this material world, and this means that God existed
before the world. Since the Lord was existing before this material
manifestation, He is not subject to this creation. If He were subject to the
laws of the material world, how could He have created it? That the Lord is
simultaneously identical with His creation and yet exists in His completeness
apart from it is stated in Bhagavad-gita.

"In
My transcendental form I pervade all this creation. All things are resting in
Me, but I am not in them. Again, everything that is created does not rest on Me.
Behold My mystic opulence: Although I am the maintainer of all living entities,
and although I am everywhere, still My Self is the very source of
creation." (Bg. 9.4,5)

Actually
we are all spirit souls and are intended to associate with God in the spiritual
sky where there are innumerable spiritual planets and innumerable spiritual
living entities. However, those who are not fit to live in that spiritual world
are sent to this material world. This very idea is expressed by Milton in
Paradise Lost. Although spirit soul, we have voluntarily accepted this material
body and by accepting it have also accepted the threefold miseries of material
nature. Exactly when we accepted it and how we accepted it cannot be traced out.
No one can trace out the history of when the conditioned soul first began
accepting these material bodies.

At
present Darwin`s theory of the evolution of organic matter is very prominent in
institutions of higher learning, but there is information given in the Padma
Purana and other authoritative scriptures of the living entities` spiritual
evolution from one bodily form to another. This Purana informs us that species
amongst plants and vegetables alone. At present everyone is giving stress to
Darwin`s theory, but in Vedic literature there is immense information about the
different species. Darwin expresses the opinion that the species are evolving
from lower forms of life, but this is not the whole truth. The soul may progress
from lower forms to higher forms, but in the beginning of creation all species
were created by Sri Krsna, as indicated in Bhagavad-gita.

"O
son of Kunti, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters
unto My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency I
again create. The whole cosmic order is under Me. By My will is it manifested
again and again, and by My will is it annihilated at the end." (Bg. 9.7,8)

All of
these living entities are subject to the threefold miseries, including those
miseries pertaining to the body and mind. Animals cannot understand that they
are suffering, but human beings can. One who does not know that he is suffering
is in animal consciousness. Animals may be standing behind a fence to be
slaughtered, but they do not understand this. As human beings, we should be
cognizant that we are suffering the pains of birth, old age, disease and death
and should be inquisitive to know how to avoid these miseries. We have been
suffering from the beginning of our birth when as a baby we were tightly placed
for nine months in the womb of a mother. After birth, suffering continues;
although a mother may take much care for her child, the baby still cries. Why?
Because he is suffering. Either a bug is biting, or there is a pain in the
stomach or some other malady. Whatever the case, the suffering goes on. The
child also suffers when he is forced to go to school when he does not want to.
The child does not want to study, but the teacher gives him tasks anyway. If we
carefully analyze our lives, we will find that they are full of suffering.
Generally speaking, conditioned souls are not very intelligent, and therefore
they go on suffering without ever inquiring why. We should understand, however,
that this suffering is there, and if there is a remedy we must take advantage of
it.

The
great sage Rsabhadeva instructed his sons in this way: "My dear boys, in
this life you have acquired these beautiful bodies. Now you should know that
they are not meant for sense gratification like the bodies of hogs and dogs but
for spiritual realization." Essentially what Rsabhadeva is saying is that a
life of sense gratification is meant for stool eaters like hogs, and now that we
have a higher form of life, we should not try to imitate the lower forms.
Recently we were surprised to see, while walking in Central park in New York
City, that a group of young American boys and girls were engaged in worshiping
hogs. While we were chanting Hare Krsna, these groups of youngsters were
chanting, "Hog! Hog! Hog!" They were actually parading with hogs in
Central park and bowing down before them and worshiping them. They actually
wanted one hog to become president, and they wanted the hogs to lead them. This
has gone to such lengths that at one be-in in Seattle there was a demonstration
with hogs in which the boys and girls undressed themselves and got in the mud
and played with the hogs, and in this way they were associating with the hogs
and pigs which they worshiped. All this is going on in a country where the young
people have good looking bodies, a great deal of money and so many other
advantages over the young people of other nations. The result of gaining all
these advantages is that they have simply taken to hog worship. Such hog worship
was anticipated long, long ago and was described in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was
compiled at least 5,000 years ago. The point is that a beautiful situation in
life should be utilized for a beautiful end, not for degraded forms of worship.

In the
Vedic histories we find that there were many, many exalted emperors and kings
who practiced austerities and penances. Dhruva Maharaja, Ambarisa Maharaja and
Yudhisthira Maharaja were all great kings and were most opulent, but at the same
time they were great sages. Thus they set the example for those who have
acquired this good opportunity of a beautiful human form of life with all the
facilities for economic development and good living. This opportunity should be
used to attain an even better life, and this can be actualized by practice of
penance. At present we are existing in these material bodies, but if we take to
the process of Krsna consciousness, our consciousness will be purified. Although
American and European, the young students who are voluntarily practicing Krsna
consciousness are very pleased to practice it. The process is not troublesome
but pleasing. Now they are realizing that purified existence constitutes the
difference between animal life and human life.

If we
purify our existence simply by following the basic regulations of Krsna
consciousness, which involve abstaining from illicit sexual connection,
meat-eating, intoxication and gambling, we will gradually rise to attain our
spiritual existence, which is completely pure. The sage Rsabhadeva told his sons
that once they purified their existence they would have unlimited happiness. We
are all intended to attain peace and happiness, but whatever peace and happiness
we find in this material world is limited. If we but purify our existence and
attain spiritual existence, we will experience unlimited peace and happiness.

The
spiritual world is not dry or abstract; as pointed out before, there is
variegatedness there. A part of the spiritual pleasure experienced in the
Vaikunthas is the pleasure of dancing. There are also young girls and young boys
there. Indeed, there is no such thing as old age, or disease, or death, or the
pains of birth. If we want to participate in the unlimited happiness, knowledge
and eternal life which constitute our actual heritage in the spiritual world, we
should not waste this life by working hard for sense gratification and
worshiping hogs. We should accept a life devoted to the cultivation of Krsna
consciousness, and then we will get unlimited happiness and unlimited pleasure.
This is the sum and substance of the Krsna consciousness movement.